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Jumeirah to operate Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul

Dubai, UAE and Istanbul, Turkey, 19 March 2012: Jumeirah Group, the Dubai-based luxury hotel company and a member of Dubai Holding, has signed a management agreement with Demsa Group, a leading Turkish company specialising in the luxury and fashion retail industry and representing 13 global brands, to operate the Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul, Turkey. Jumeirah Group will assume management of the luxury museum hotel from 01 May 2012 and the property will be known as Pera Palace Hotel, Jumeirah.

Pera Palace Hotel originally opened in 1892 as the destination hotel in Istanbul for discerning travellers on the Orient Express train. Its elegant, understated design reflects art nouveau, neoclassical and oriental styles, complete with white Carrara marble, exquisite Murano glass chandeliers and hand-woven Ousak carpets. Known as the longest established luxury hotel in Istanbul, Pera Palace boasted the first electric elevator in Turkey and its rooms have hosted many of the world’s most significant figures, ranging from the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, to European royalty and cultural figures such as Agatha Christie, Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock and Ernest Hemingway.

The room where Atatürk preferred to stay – room 101 – has been registered as a museum by the Ministry of Culture; visitors can see some of his personal belongings and many artefacts dating back to his visits to the hotel from 1917 until his death in 1938.

Located in the culturally rich and dynamic Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, within easy reach of the Golden Horn, the Bosphorus and the airport, Pera Palace Hotel, Jumeirah has 115 rooms including 16 suites, the majority of them with balconies. The hotel underwent a major refurbishment resulting in a grand re-opening in September 2010; in late 2011 the hotel’s usage rights transferred to Demsa Group, who has now selected Jumeirah Group to operate the property in line with the Jumeirah brand promise of STAY DIFFERENT™

The hotel has a 380m2 spa and four function rooms. Its main restaurant Agatha is named after the famous British crime writer Agatha Christie and serves French, Italian and Turkish specialities, paying tribute to the three major stops of the former Orient Express. Orient Bar is a well-known meeting-point for the intellectuals and the high society of Istanbul, as are the Kubbeli Saloon and Tea Lounge, Patisserie de Pera and Orient Terrace in summer.

The addition of Pera Palace Hotel, Jumeirah brings the number of luxury hotels, resorts and residences currently operated by Jumeirah around the world to 19. From the start of 2011 to the end of 2012, the Group will have more than doubled the number of hotels it manages and almost quadrupled the number of countries in which it operates. In the coming six months Jumeirah expects to open Jumeirah Port Soller Hotel & Spa in Mallorca, Spain; Jumeirah Bilgah Beach Hotel in Baku, Azerbaijan; Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel and Spa, Kuwait; and Jumeirah Creekside in Dubai, UAE.

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Notes to Editors

Top left photo: Gerald Lawless, Executive Chairman of Jumeirah Group and Cengiz Çetindoğan, Executive Chairman of Demsa Group at the signing ceremony taking place in Istanbul on March 19, 2012.

About DEMSA Group:

Demsa Group has been established in 2000 as a retail trade company and Cengiz Çetindoğan is Executive Chairman. In just 12 years, Demsa has succeeded in opening 109 shops around Turkey, now employing more than 900 employees.

With its strong capital structure and strong belief in the growing retail sector, it has become an important player in Turkey’s retail industry, providing jobs for the young and dynamic population of Turkey.

Representing famous global brands such as Harvey Nichols and Michael Kors and being one of the most important companies in the luxury and fashion retail industry, Demsa Group’s investments in real estate property, hotels and restaurants continue to grow.

Within the framework of these investments, Demsa Group bought the land property of Maçka Hotel in 2010 and obtanied the ownership rights for Pera Palace Hotel in 2012. With these ventures, Demsa Group has emerged as the investor of two of the most important hotel projects in İstanbul. Demsa Group’s investments in the luxury hotel and restaurant segment continue with great determination.